Sooner or Later: Computable Academic Data

Next month I’m on a discussion panel at The Now and Future of Data Publishing symposium in Oxford, UK. I’m expecting this to be a good day and, if you’re in the area, I recommend you think about coming along (it’s free!).

We’re very interested in academic data. Over the past 20 years or so, publishers have changed in some big ways, such as shifting from print to online or adopting new open access business models. But one thing they haven’t fully tackled yet is how to handle the increasingly large amounts of data coming out of academic research.

The Wolfram technology stack already has many of the necessary components for putting research data online in a useful form. Mathematica can import and export a large number of file formats. We have data file upload and powerful data analytics in Wolfram|Alpha Pro. Plus we have the technology for quickly making easy-to-use online interactive widgets.

We’re working on a few more things that will let us make a more comprehensive contribution to publishing and sharing academic data. Come to the Oxford meeting to hear more.